OceanSide church of Christ

 Previous Return to Articles Next 

A STUDY OF 1 JOHN (21)

 

Loving versus Hating

1 John 3:11-15

Victor M. Eskew

 

            When individuals embrace a false doctrine, they are kind to all those who embrace them and accept their teaching.  However, they do not display love toward those who stand in opposition to them.  This hatred grows much more fierce if the individual is not able to defend his position.  Instead of admitting his error, he viciously attacks those who disagree with him.  The war is no longer about positions.  It becomes a personal battle between personalities.  This seems to have been what happened with the gnostic teachers.  Thus, John addresses the subject of loving one another in great detail in this epistle.  Remember in our last study, John closed the section by describing those who were the children of the devil.  He said that the children of the devil did not practice righteousness.  Too, they did not love their brethren (1 John 3:10).

            John begins this discussion about love by reminding his readers about THE MESSAGE OF LOVE they had heard from the beginning.  “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11).  It was Jesus who taught about love and set the standard for love during His earthly ministry.  In John 13:34-35, we read:  “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have love you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  The word translated love is the Greek word “agapao.”  It is the highest form of love.  It springs from the nature of God.  It may or may not involve emotions.  It seeks the best interest of the person being loved.  It is also an active love.  It is not love in word only.  Notice that Jesus is the standard as to how this love is to be practiced.  He said:  “…as I have love you, that ye also love one another.”  The little word “as” means “in this manner.”  Jesus manifested love for all.  We are to display love for others in the same manner Jesus did.

            Instead of holding up Jesus as the example of love, John sets forth a negative example found in Scripture.  The negative example is THE MAN NAMED CAIN.  “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother.  And wherefore slew he him?  Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”  Cain shows us how “not” to love.  Cain was one of the sons of Adam and Eve.  He and his brother Abel came before God to offer sacrifice.  The text of Genesis tells us:  “And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof.  And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering:  but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect” (Gen. 4:3-5a).  According to Hebrews 11:4, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.  It was “more excellent” because he offered it by faith.  Romans 10:17 teaches us that faith comes by hearing.  Abel heard God’s directions about the sacrifice and follow them.  Cain did not.  Thus, God rejected Cain’s offering.  Genesis 5:5 describes Cain’s immediate reaction to God’s rejection.  “And Cain was very wroth…”  When the opportunity to vent his anger toward his brother, “…Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him” (Gen. 4:8).  Cain’s action was a display of hatred.  It was exactly the opposite of the love that should be shown between brothers.  John contrasts the brothers by their works.  Cain’s “works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”  The same type of scenario was happening among John’s readers.  Some were righteous, that is, doing God’s will.  The gnostics, however, were involved in evil works, false teaching, and immorality.  The fact that the false teachers were not acceptable to God caused them to grow angry and hate those who opposed them.

            Hatred and murder are two of the world’s behaviors.  Both manifestations of evil can be very distressing to Christians.  John, therefore, spoke to those Christians about THE MALEVOLENCE OF THE WORLD and how they should react to it.  He wrote:  “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13).  False doctrine and all of the evils associated with it are of the world.  Christians are translated out of the realm of darkness when they became Christians.  Their lives are to be lived in the opposite fashion of the world.  The world despises their holy lifestyle.  Their spite is displayed in hatred.  John exhorted his readers not to marvel or wonder if the world hated them.  One of the things that separated them from the world was the Word of God, the truth.  Jesus taught that this would bring the hatred of the world upon His followers.  He said:  “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14).  Truth and error do not mix.  Holiness and sin are not compatible.  The Spirit and the flesh are contrary one to another.  Dear readers, Christianity and the world will always be at odds.  Marvel not, therefore, if the world hate you.

            John’s use of terms in the next two verses is masterful.  He instructs those first century Christians regarding THE MISMATCH BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE.  Love is one thing and has its destination.  Hate is another thing and has its destination.  Those who love the brethren had passed from death to life.  “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14a). Love is one of the main features of a true child of God.  It is a proof that he is no longer spiritually dead.  Instead, he is alive in Christ.  On the other hand, “he that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14b).  Love is part of the kingdom of God.  The realm of Satan knows only hatred.  To fail to love is evidence that one is spiritually dead.  John doubles down on the one who hates his brother in 1 John 3:15.  He writes:  “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:  and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”  The last part of John statement all would affirm.  “No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”  Murder is a work of the flesh.  Paul proclaimed that murderers will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:21).  It is the first part of John’s statement that stirs the emotions and makes one question.  “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”  Aren’t hatred and murder two distinct acts?  Hatred is the foundation, the fountain of murder.  Human laws and the dread of punishment are sometimes the only things that keep the one who hates from committing the act of murder.  In some cases, the restraints aren’t enough.  John is teaching that all who hate have the spirit of Cain, a spirit that led them to slay their own brethren.  It is an evil emotion.  Those who possess it do not have eternal life abiding in them.  Their hatred of their brethren leads to the same consequences as those who commit the act of murder.